Debt Deal expected by May 9 – Greece PM

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said Greece expects to reach an interim agreement on a bailout deal with the EU which will provide cash-strapped Athens with funds before its next IMF payment is due.

"I think that by the 9th of May we will have an
agreement," that will unlock some bailout funds, Tsipras
said in a marathon interview with Star TV that aired late Monday
evening.

Greece hopes to secure some sort of extension so Athens can pay
€750 million ($815.5 million) to the IMF due on May 12. Before
that, about €203 million is due on May 1st. However, the PM made
it clear that he values keeping Greece running over paying back
creditors.

Greece has openly discussed the possibility of defaulting on its
credit, but most analysts believe this is a scare tactic, and
that Greece does indeed want to find a way to unlock more money
in bailouts from the EU.

Greece has several payments due in the next few months. The full
schedule is below.

On any given day, the amount of these payments slightly changes.
They are denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), an
artificial currency created by the IMF that the institution uses
to give out extra funds. Its exchange rate is pegged to a US
dollar–denominated value of a currency basket comprised of the
greenback, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

The Prime Minister dispelled the rumor of holding early elections
to replace his government, but didn’t rule out holding a
referendum on the issue.

"If I end up having an agreement that puts me outside the
limits [of my mandate], I will have no other resort," he
said. "The people will decide — obviously without elections,
I want to make that clear."

Deadlocked

Since the Syriza party won elections in January on the promise to
renegotiate the country’s €316 billion debt, it has made little
progress with its EU creditors.

EU ministers have not had very kind words for either Tsipras or
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who was reportedly mocked at
last Friday’s Riga talks, where the two sides were supposed to
have settled on a framework agreement for the new terms of
Greece’s loan.

On Monday it was reported that Financial Relations Minister
Euclid Tsakalotos will take the lead in negotiations with EU
ministers. Like Varoufakis, he has an academic background and
held a position at the University of Athens.

Tsipras defended Varoufakis in the interview, even though he came
back from talks in Riga empty handed, and was sidelined from
negotiations Monday. Tsipras insisted that Varoufakis was still
the point person on negotiations.

Greece made a
€448 million payment to the IMF on April 9, on schedule.

The bailout will help Greece’s struggling economy live through
several debt repayments due over the course of the next two
months.